Confession

Some things that are not in my novel:

• A rooster
• A flamingo as narrator
• Any birds at all
• Footnotes
• Dystopia
• Hybridity*
• Anything thrilling that doesn't come straight from the heart of a character

This might explain why I was so relieved to read this month's Poets and Writers, in which agent Emily Forland speaks about Susanna Daniel's novel, Stiltsville, which was not "narrated by a flamingo, or written in interconnected haiku."

Because these are the things I worry about, you know, when I'm not worrying about all the other stuff, like laundry, who is or isn't smoking weed, and who happens to be dating the most popular girl in school.

*I totally want to read this.